U.S. Health and Human Services Names Bryan Sivak as New CTO

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has named Bryan Sivak as its new chief technology officer, replacing Todd Park, who was named federal CTO by President Obama in March.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has named Maryland's chief innovation officer, Bryan Sivak, as its HHS chief technology officer.

Sivak assumes his new role following the appointment of Todd Park as the federal U.S. chief technology officer by President Obama on March 9. Park succeeded Aneesh Chopra, who is now a senior advisor on health care technology strategy at The Advisory Board Company, a consulting firm.

HHS announced Sivak's appointment on Twitter on June 14. Sivak tweeted about his new post, saying he was "super excited to continue the amazing work started by Park ."

Sivak previously served as former Maryland chief innovation officer. In that role Sivak helped create the state's health information exchanges to connect various electronic health record (EHR) platforms.

He also worked on issues such as public safety, broadband access and getting citizens involved with social media, according to Government Health IT.

In addition, Sivak helped set up a health insurance exchange (HIXs) to allow citizens to shop for health plans.

The federal government calls for all states to set up HIXs under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), on which the Supreme Court is about to issue a ruling regarding its constitutionality. "Bryan has done great work in the state of Maryland," Takirra Winfield, press secretary for Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, told eWEEK in an email. "He has left us with a blueprint for innovation by spearheading open government projects, and working on initiatives like the health exchange."

Sivak's background also includes a role as CTO for Washington, D.C., and co-founder of InQuira, a knowledge management software vendor now owned by Oracle.